Happy Labor Day

Here’s a prayer for Labor Day:

Loving and laboring God,

We thank you for the gift of labor. For many of us, work provides for our financial and material needs. For many of us, work fills our desire to do good in the world, and for many of us, work provides the structure for our days and meaning for our lives.

But there are many people, God, for whom work means something different. Many who labor in underground economies, facing incarceration, isolation, and loss if they are caught. Many whose work provides material goods for their supervisors, but who see little of their own money. Many who labor for hours but see no material gain. There are also those who find no meaning in work. Because of the downturn in the economy, they find themselves working at jobs below their skill level and for less material gain than they once worked. And, loving God, there are those who can find no work at all.

We ask that you remind us, God, that for many labor is not an escape from poverty. We ask that you teach us compassion and care for them.

We ask that you help us find our meaning outside of work, in the love that we share, rather than the hours that we labor.

We ask that you help us find the true value of material goods. Remind us that good things come so that we can give them away

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On this labor day, we ask that you help us to not labor in vain—that our work brings glory to You and compassion to all of us, your children.

Amen.